Pro skier Dash Longe has filmed with Teton Gravity Research for the past nine years. A majority of those segments have been park and urban jib shots, but when Longe appears on the screen in TGR's new film, "The Dream Factory," due out this fall, he'll be seen skiing big-mountain lines in Alaska alongside Seth Morrison, Sage Cattabriga-Alosa and Daron Rahlves. We caught up with the 27-year-old Salt Lake City resident about the future of ski movies, getting pigeon holed and more.
You've been mainly a park guy for years. This will be a departure for you, no?
I've been a bit pigeon holed as far as the type of skiing I have been able to capture on film in my numerous years of shooting for ski movies. I definitely started out only filming in the park or on the streets, but when I got the chance to work with TGR, I was able to branch out and start doing more stuff in the backcountry. Which is what I always wanted to do when I was younger.
You're a Tahoe native who's lived in Salt Lake City for the past eight years. So big mountains are certainly not foreign to you.
I was fortunate enough to grow up skiing near Lake Tahoe with parents that let me skip school on powder days, so I've been skiing lines and dropping cliffs since before the days of "snowboard parks" and rails. I just haven't had a solid chance to show the world that there is more to my ski background than just park and kickers.
Good thing you got to go on an Alaskan trip this year then.
It was really a dream come true. I have been telling the boys at TGR that I've wanted to go to AK for years. I missed my window two seasons ago due to a knee injury and then when Erik Roner was injured this past season, I was able to take his place on the "Big Dog" trip. I knew this was my chance to do what I have been working toward my whole life and I wasn't going to hold back. In my mind, I was ready for AK in previous years, but looking back on it, after my experience this past season, my skiing was not quite mature enough to handle what AK puts in front of you.
How were the conditions?
That trip could not have gone much better as far as weather and conditions cooperating. I also felt very comfortable having Sage, Seth and Daron giving me pointers. They definitely helped me out tremendously when it came to line choice and slough management protocol. There were a few days when I was able to watch them before I went and that was huge.
What are you up to this summer?
I am actually in school. This is my last semester at community college before I will transfer to a university. Just chipping away, slowly but surely. I'm also trying to play as much golf as I can before I have shoulder surgery.
The ski movie of the future -- what does it look like to you?
I love the annual ski film formula and the tour of shows that gets people all fired up for winter. I think as long as it snows, there will always be a place for that, but I want to see people get more artistic and trippy with it. I feel like our generation of ski movies needs some more creativity. I'm envisioning something mind-bending and surreal, some real visually exciting stuff. It should be less about "Hey, check out how cool I am," and more about delivering something that people can't take their eyes off of regardless of whether or not they ski.
